<p>Hi. I'm an incoming college freshmen at UC Davis in the Biochemical Engineering major. I'm really interested in what Engineers learn about - advanced math, physics, design, inventing, other hard sciences. I want to learn what I would learn if I majored in Engineering. However, i don't think I want to be an engineer. I want to be a pharmacist because I lack confidence and ability to work in a team. I also do not think that I will be able to handle all the stress and responsibility of an engineering job. Also, because of my short stature, I find it very difficult to be confident in social interactions, which is essential in the field of engineering.</p>
<p>Learning the necessary tools and knowledge to be able to enter the engineering workforce is one thing, being held responsible to create things that could determine life or death is another. I want to be a pharmacist but I'm so interested in the things that engineers learn! I think I would be much happier if I stay in a pharmacy filling medicine bottles. I guess it would be my "comfort zone". </p>
<p>The problem is that I heard Engineering is a GPA killing, and I know it is. And I heard that pharmacy schools don't weight the GPAs of Engineer applicants; they don't care about the majors as much as the GPAs of the applicants. I know I would be pretty miserable majoring in anything else but engineering. (Well, maybe not physics or math, but those majors kill GPAs just as much as engineering, if not more). </p>
<p>So what do you think I should major in? Should I just give up on engineering major since I know I don't want to be an engineer after I graduate and that it will keep from getting into pharmacy school?</p>
<p>I heard somewhere that the average college student changes their major about 3 times before deciding on one that they want. If you like hard sciences and advanced math, that sounds like more of a physics major to me. There are a lot of engineers who don’t particularly love the sciences, but it’s necessary to know it to do the work that they do love, which is engineering. Most CS and CompE majors I know dreaded physics class.</p>
<p>For pharm school I think the selection process is a little different from school to school whether or not they care about your major. Personally I would have more respect for a biochemical engineering major than a biology major. Check on medical forums for that information.</p>
<p>As far as GPA goes, you can still have a high GPA! What’s the secret? Study hard! If you’re interested in the course material, that’s a huge incentive to study and possibly read ahead. The only thing that will hold you back is if your profession sucks and gives you tricky questions or asks questions not covered. If there are two teachers teaching the same subject, pick the easier one.</p>
<p>Who knows… you may discover that in labs you’re actually good at working with teams and want to be an engineer after all.</p>
<p>What a depressing attitude. Comfort zones are meant to be left. You will change A LOT in college. Today’s me and freshman me are not even remotely comparable in terms of confidence.</p>
<p>Also, engineering is something like 20-40% Asian, depending on the school and major (and 50%+ at the grad level). You probably won’t be notably short.</p>